claiming it was way too hard to rig by himself
I just have to step in here.... I owned an M-15 for several years, until selling it this past spring -- and I still have mixed feelings about how good an idea that sale was. Although I have no experience of the M-17, I can say without doubt that the M-15 is a lovely little boat. I'm in my mid-50s (how did _that_ happen?) and reasonably fit/active. The least time that I could hope to lapse from driving into the ramp parking lot and the boat being off the trailer and ready to go was about 20 minutes. Having assistance would increase that minimum time by about five minutes :-). The hardest part by far was carrying the outboard from the trunk of the car to the motor mount. Yes, there would occasionally be a hitch of some sort in the process -- but in general I'd say that rigging the M-15 for launch is as easy as it gets. It sits a bit higher on the trailer than a flat-bottom boat (e.g. a Potter 15) so you have to expend a little more effort climbing aboard, but that's not a significant problem. Raising the mast is _not_ a problem. The fractional dinghy rig makes it exceptionally quick and easy to get everything tied down. The cabin is comfortable for one (at least, for one who can deal with not having sitting headroom) or one plus a child. Two adults is a tight fit (depending...) and two adults plus a child is like sharing a telephone booth with a whale. The M-15 is a great boat, and one that I cannot recommend too highly! Giles Morris -----Original Message----- From: montgomery_boats-bounces+giles.morris=unisys.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:montgomery_boats-bounces+giles.morris=unisys.com@mailman.xmissio n.com] On Behalf Of Michael Matthews Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 11:20 AM To: For and about Montgomery Sailboats Subject: Re: M_Boats: Downsizing to a smaller trailerable Thanks for the great info! I'm coming from a background of bigger non-trailerable keel boats. I currently own at 26' Tartan sloop and a couple of small homebuilt wood boats. I live an hour away from the water and have found it's too far for me (I have a young family) to do all the maintenance on the boat that it needs. Also, I have a very large backyard and a great place for a trailerable. Two summers ago I bought a MacGregor 19' Powersailer. I was hoping to use it on a couple of the local lakes and occasionally down in SF Bay. However, the boat was big and hard to rig, sat high on the trailer and I ended up almost never using it. In fact, this last summer I used the boat only once! It was just too much work to tow and launch. So I've decided that smaller and simpler is better. Everyone in my family owns a boat so I have access to bigger sailboats. My goal for a trailerable is something I can rig by myself at the ramp in less than half an hour. The quicker the better. It must have enough room for a useable porta-potty. I've looked at a lot of boats on paper but it's becoming clear to me that I really need to go look at the boats in person to get a real feel for them. There was an M-15 for sale a couple of months ago but the owner talked me out of looking at the boat claiming it was way too hard to rig by himself. So this is my dilema. I would like a small trailerable that's easy to rig, easy to launch and has a small cabin with a useable porta-potty. Sounds like the M-15? Yes? No? Any other thoughts on the subject would be appreciated. Take care, Michael Saltm17@aol.com wrote:
Michael,
The mast on the M15 is easier to raise than the one on the M17, however, I have an M17 (Miss T) and even at 60 don't have any problem at all raising the mast. If I were trying to decide which boat to buy, I would look at where I want to sail, what towing vehicle I have and the number of friends/family I normally sail with. There is quite a difference between the two models and you might want to look at both before deciding. The M17 handles steep chop better than the M15, has more room and has at least one comfortable sitting nposition below. Both boats can take a lot of weather, but the M17 does better in rough conditions. I think either boat would be
a good choice depending on what you want and where you sail,
John Edwards Miss T M17 # 372 _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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